The balance disruption that often occurs is a happy side effect of trying to shut down the opponent.

If you break someone's fingers prying them off you, you main goal is to get rid of that hand on you. Any balance lost by the opponent is a bonus. Ideally you could keep control of them and further disrupt their balance, but your mini-primary-goal is still to remove the hand.

If you hit someone hard - you can cause a muscle spasm, shake the brain, change the body's orientation, or even lay them out cold.
If you feint and they follow - they lose their balance because they fell into your trap and you are no longer where they have placed their effort
If you make them miss and reach past their limits - they lose their balance
If you shout and they freeze and shut their eyes - they lose their balance
If you grab and yank or grab and shove and their center is displaced more than your own - they lose their balance.
Slap on a choke and they lose the balance of inhalation vs exhalation or blood flow in vs blood flow out
Slap on a lock and they lose the balance of mobility over range of motion
Hurl insults at them and watch them lose their balance of emotions

Use the above uniquely or in combination

Balance is everything in equal measure
Disruption of balance is the goal of fighting

This is what energy issuing is all about and why there is such a thing in CMA, and some other arts as using bridge contact(arm contact/leg contact) that might otherwise be thought of as a "block" to attack their structure.. This is also why there are some odd stances and footwork in some CMA which are designed to move you into a position where, we say, "he is wrong" (not facing you) but you ARE facing him (power line) and grounded AND aligned. This allows you to direct your power into a path where his alignment is weak or where there is “a void” and can help you move your body while issuing energy into his space to break his balance and structure (ability to ground) WHILE you ALSO issue your attack.. Contact drills like push hands and chi sao help in cultivating contact reflexes and kinesthetic awareness of these conditions so they can be expressed in a natural and automatic fashion. "Every block is an attack" doesn't just mean that you use the block to hit him it means you use these tools to break his structure and hence his ability to make power and do damage..

ShaolinM Y V T K F"Receive what comes, stay with what goes, upon loss of contact attack the line" – The Kuen Kuit

fivedragons wrote:Chinese martial arts, like every other form of martial art, is all about inflicting the most amount of trauma in the quickest and most direct manner.

Not balance, just destruction.

It's not self defense.

It's not a sport.

It's kung fu.

The goal may be getting from A to B but you have to survive the trip..

Regardless of what the destination is, destruction or control <we don't always want to kill maim and destroy do we?:roll: > IS addressed via energy issuing and breaking structure--it's a key and core component of all CMA, and some other arts, regardless of what you "think" or what a MA is to "you"..

These core components, balance and structure destruction, the manipulation and sensitivity to position and energy is what can help control the opponent during engagement--they are tactical tools. The purpose of these tactics is to minimize the ability of the opponent to inflict damage on us while we do “it“ to him... Doing is one thing getting there, staying there and making it stick, especially when the opponent is faster, stronger and larger is what these core attribute builders <and others> are about, it's there, and it's there for a good reason and that’s how I and others train to use it.

ShaolinM Y V T K F"Receive what comes, stay with what goes, upon loss of contact attack the line" – The Kuen Kuit

If you study something called a martial art, I would say that is pretty much what you are in for, unless you dilute and obfuscate the very reason for the movements contained in the "form", AKA the "art".

In that case, one is left in the position of studying painting in order to play music.

If you study something called a martial art, I would say that is pretty much what you are in for, unless you dilute and obfuscate the very reason for the movements contained in the "form", AKA the "art".

In that case, one is left in the position of studying painting in order to play music.

That is like using a steak knife to drink a bowl of soup.

Your obfuscating the point of this topic in favor of word play...

So you can’t think of an occasion where killing might not be the objective? All rightly then...

The tools and tactics are constants--be it killing or controlling.. We want to control as we kill.. See?

As I said... These tactics are what make up the core of CMA. They are tools used to help you survive the trip, no matter the destination... And these tools are a critically important part of those arts, like it—or not....

ShaolinM Y V T K F"Receive what comes, stay with what goes, upon loss of contact attack the line" – The Kuen Kuit